Ferguson Protests Bill to Restore Former Presidents’ Benefits

Former Minister in the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition Government and former Member of Parliament Annette Ferguson on Thursday launched a protest outside the Office of the President, declaring that demonstrations will continue until the Government withdraws legislation she says would once again grant former presidents unrestricted taxpayer-funded benefits.

Speaking with Village Voice News during the picketing exercise, Ferguson accused the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration of attempting to reverse reforms enacted by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government in 2015 to curb what she described as excessive presidential privileges.

“This morning, Thursday, June 25, 2026, I decided to host a picketing exercise outside of the Office of the President calling for the abolishment and killing of the Former Presidents’ Benefits and Other Facilities Bill 2026,” Ferguson said, referring to legislation tabled in the National Assembly on June 5.

She said her decision to protest stemmed from a belief that the Government is disregarding the interests of ordinary Guyanese.

“As a Guyanese, I believe that the People’s Progressive Party Civic is taking Guyanese for granted,” she said. “I also believe that the whole intention of this bill is to allow for the Guyanese people to fund the affairs of former presidents, more so Jagdeo, Ali, and Donald Ramotar.”

At the centre of Ferguson’s criticism is the bill’s proposal to repeal limits imposed by the APNU+AFC administration on benefits available to former Heads of State, effectively restoring provisions contained in the original 2009 legislation.

She recalled that the law, first assented to by then President Bharrat Jagdeo in April 2009, entitled former presidents to extensive state-funded benefits, including payment of utilities, internet, healthcare, staffing, transportation and other expenses, with virtually no financial limits.

According to Ferguson, the legislation also exempted former presidents from paying taxes while extending benefits to their spouses and dependent children.

“The 2009 law allowed former presidents to hire as many staff as he or she wished, to have as many vehicles as he or she wished, to bring huge sums in health bills or costs, and we the taxpayers would have to fund that,” she said.

She argued that the legislation immediately generated public outrage and prompted the then parliamentary opposition—A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC)—to seek legislative reforms after the 2011 General and Regional Elections.

In 2012 the combined APNU and AFC opposition successfully passed a motion in the National Assembly calling for the benefits to be capped.

Among the proposed reforms, Ferguson said, electricity payments were limited to G$25,000 per month, with former presidents required to pay any amount above that threshold. Annual healthcare expenses were capped at G$200,000, while limits were also placed on staffing, official vehicles and other taxpayer-funded benefits.

“The 2009 law allowed former presidents to hire as many staff as he or she wished, to have as many vehicles as he or she wished, to bring huge sums in health bills or costs, and we the taxpayers would have to fund that,” Ferguson reiterated.

Although the parliamentary motion received majority support, she said then President Donald Ramotar failed to implement the changes.

Those reforms only became law after the APNU+AFC Coalition assumed office in May 2015.

Ferguson explained that the amendments, piloted in the National Assembly by then Finance Minister Winston Jordan and later assented to by President David Granger, reflected the recommendations approved by the National Assembly during the previous Parliament.

“The 2015 bill also said that former presidents will have to pay taxes,” she noted.

She contended that the PPP/C administration is now seeking to dismantle those safeguards.

“They’re coming back to repeal the 2015 bill and return to the 2009 arrangement,” Ferguson said.

Describing the proposed legislation as an unjustified burden on taxpayers, Ferguson argued that Guyanese should not be expected to finance unlimited benefits for former office holders while many citizens continue to face economic hardships.

“I feel that Guyana is being shafted. Guyana is being taken advantage of, and it appears to me that all the PPP/C wants is that we must mind them till God ready for them,” she declared.

She urged citizens to publicly oppose the legislation before it is passed.

“I’m calling on all my thinking Guyanese to stand with me and let our voices be heard. We must say, ‘Kill this Bill. Kill this Bill.’ And if we all add our voices, I believe the Government is going to wake up.”

Ferguson also made it clear that Thursday’s demonstration marked only the beginning of what she intends to be a sustained public campaign against the legislation.

“We intend to continue this protest until this bill is withdrawn,” she told Village Voice News, signalling that additional picketing exercises are planned as pressure mounts on the Government to abandon the proposed legislation.

The Former Presidents’ Benefits and Other Facilities Bill 2026 has reignited debate over the scope of taxpayer-funded benefits afforded to former Heads of State, with the Government seeking to repeal restrictions enacted in 2015 and critics arguing that restoring uncapped benefits would place an unnecessary financial burden on the public purse.